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IMPROVEMENT

Rice: Five varieties and one hybrid, at the regional/

5. Crop Improvement

Rice variety VL Dhan86, suitable forUttarakhand andHimachal Pradesh,possesses resistanceto diseases and insects

central level and thirteen varieties and two hybridsat the state level have been released for differentstates of the country.

Released rice varieties and hybrids

Variety/Hybrid Grain type Farming system Resistance to pests/ State/regiondiseases of adaptation

JKRH 401 Long Bold Irrigated, Leaf blight, Bacterial blight, Rice West Bengal, Bihar and(Hybrid) transplanted tungro disease, White backed plant Orissa

hopper, Sheath rot, Brown spot,Sheath blight, Neck blast

Abhishek Short Bold Irrigated Bacterial blight, Shoot borer, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar,Gall midge, Leaf folder, Sheath rot, Jharkhand and AsomSheath blight

Shusk Samrat Long Bold Rainfed, upland Leaf blight, Shoot borer, Uttar Pradesh, Orissa(direct seeded) Brown spot, Sheath rot, Gall midge, and Bihar

Sheath blight

Virender Short Bold Rainfed, upland Leaf blight; SB; Brown plant Orissa and Gujarat(direct seeded) hopper and White backed plant

hopper, Gall midge, Sheath rot,Brown spot

VL Dhan 86 Short Bold Irrigated, Leaf blight and Neck blast, Uttarakhand andtransplanted Sheath blight, Brown plant hopper, Himachal Pradesh

Leaf folder

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Bhuthnath Long Slender Waterlogged, MR– Leaf blight, Neck blast, West Bengal, Orissa,coastal saline areas Sheath blight, Rice tungro disease, Maharashtra

Brown spot

State releases

Indra Medium Irrigated Brown plant hopper, Andhra PradeshSlender (Saline soils) Gall midge, Bacterial blight

Pardhiva Short Bold Rainfed, shallow Blast Southern parts oflowlands Krishna, Godavari zone

of Andhra Pradesh

Sree Kurma Medium Shallow lowlands Gall midge, Blast Andhra PradeshSlender (Late planted

conditions)

Warangal Medium Irrigated medium – Andhra PradeshSannalu Slender

Chandrama Short Bold Irrigated boro as Leaf blight and Neck blast; Asomwell as rainfed MR– Bacterial blight, Riceshallow lowlands tungro disease, Sheath blight,(sali) Gall midge, Brown plant hopper

and White backed plant hopper

Jaldubi Medium Direct seeding/ Blast, Gall midge ChhattisgarhSlender transplanted in

shallow lowlands

Chandrahasini Long Slender Irrigated Gall midge; MR– Brown plant Chhattisgarhhopper, White backed planthopper, Neck blast, Blast

Samleshwari Long Slender Rainfed uplands, Gall midge 1, 4; MR– Blast; Chhattisgarhrainfed bunded T – Brown spot, Neck blastMatasi soils

Indira Sona Long Slender Irrigated médium Gall midge Chhattisgarh(Hybrid)

Haryana Sankar Long Slender Irrigated medium Sheath blight, Brown spot, HaryanaDhan 1 (Hybrid) Neck blast, White backed plant

hopper, Leaf folder

Phule Radha Short Slender Irrigated, Bacterial blight; MR– Blast Maharashtratransplanted

Pariphou Long Slender Irrigated, lowlands, – Manipurrabi areas

Ginphou Long Slender Uplands, irrigated – Manipurlowlands

VL Dhan 209 Short Bold Rainfed, uplands Leaf blight and Neck blast, UttarakhandLeaf folder and Brown spot

VL Dhan 65 Long Slender Irrigated, Leaf blight, Neck blast, Uttarakhandhilly areas Brown spot; MR– Leaf folder,

Sheath blight

MR-Moderately resistant, T-Tolerant

Released rice varieties and hybrids

Variety/Hybrid Grain type Farming system Resistance to pests/ State/regiondiseases of adaptation

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Wheat and barley: Five varieties of wheat, three of barley and one of triticale have been released.

Registration of genetic stocks: Sixteen wheat genetic stocks showing resistance and quality traitshave been registered.

Released varieties of wheat, barley and triticale

Variety Farming system Area of adaptation Salient features

DBW 17 Irrigated, timely sown Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Rajasthan Yield advantage over PBW 343. Plant(except Kota and Udaipur divisions) and resistance to new yellow rust racewestern Uttar Pradesh (except Jhansi 78S84 for which PBW 343 and PBWdivision), Jammu and Kathua district, 502 are susceptible.Resistance toUna distt and Paonta valley and 5 (121R 63-1) and 104-2 (21R55), atUttarakhand (tarai region) seedling and adult plant stages. Karnal

bunt resistance better than PBW 343.Good chapati making quality

K 0307 Irrigated, timely sown Eastern Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Yield advantage, disease resistance,Orissa, West Bengal, Asom and north- better quality chapati and breadeastern plains making than K 9107

GW 366 Timely sown, irrigated Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Yield advantage over GW 322Kota and Udaipur divisions of Rajasthan,and Jhansi division of Uttar Pradesh

RAJ 4083 Late sown, irrigated Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Yield gain over HI 977Goa, plains of Tamil Nadu

DDK 1029 Timely sown, irrigated Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Yield gain over best dicoccum checkGoa, plains of Tamil Nadu, Nilgiri variety DDK 1009and Palni hills

TL 2942 Rainfed/Irrigated, Western Himalayan regions of Jammu and Yield advantage and good amberTimely sown Kashmir (except Jammu and Kathua distt); grains

Himachal Pradesh (except Una and Paontavalley); Uttarakhand (except tarai/plain area);Sikkim and hills of West Bengal and NEstates

DWRUB 52 Irrigated, timely sown Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Rajasthan (except First 2-rowed barley having good yieldKota and Udaipur divisions) and western potential and malting quality andUttar Pradesh (except Jhansi division), resistance to yellow rustJammu and Kathua distt, Una districtand Paonta valley andUttarakhand (tarai region)

RD 2668 Irrigated, timely sown Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Rajasthan (except 2-rowed barley having good yieldKota and Udaipur divisions) and western potential and malting quality andUttar Pradesh (except Jhansi division), resistance to yellow rustJammu and Kathua distt, Una district andPaonta valley and Uttarakhand (tarai region)

Feed Barley

PL 751 Irrigated, timely sown Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, 6-rowed barley, resistant to black rustKota and Udaipur divisions of Rajasthanand Jhansi division of Uttar Pradesh

Wheat genetic stocks registered

Name I.D. No. Institutions involved Traits(s)

FKW 1 IC 546933 DWR, Shimla Resistance to yellow and black rustsFKW 3 IC 546934 DWR, Shimla Brown rust resistance derived from durum wheat (HD 4672)FKW 4 IC 549915 DWR, Shimla Brown rust resistance derived from durum wheat (DWR 1006)FLW 20 IC 548327 DWR, Shimla Brown rust resistance (Lr19)FLW 24 IC 549926 DWR, Shimla Stem rust resistance (Sr24, Sr25)FLW 25 IC 549927 DWR, Shimla Brown rust resistance (Lr28)FLW 26 IC 549928 DWR, Shimla Brown rust resistance (Lr42)FLW 27 IC 549929 DWR, Shimla Brown rust resistance (Lr45)VL 858 – VPKAS, Almora Excellent chapati qualityVL 824 IC 549923 VPKAS, Almora Powdery mildew resistanceWBM 1587 IC 549931 IARI, Shimla Yellow rust resistanceWBM 1591 IC 549932 IARI, Shimla Yellow rust resistanceNAPHAL – DWR, Karnal Glu-D1 double null with pin A geneTank IC 398287 VPKAS, Almora Exceptionally long awnsWH 730 – CCSHAU, Hisar Heat toleranceDI 717 IC 546939 CCSHAU, Hisar NIL of C 306 with Rht-3 gene

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Trait(s) Genotypes

Resistant to three HD 2865, VL 895, VL 900, VL 905,rust diseases PHS 0622, TL 2951 (T)

Tolerance to KRL 234, Raj 4188, KRL 237,salinity-alkalinity KRL 236, DW 1367, KRL 229,

KRL 233

Early maturity NIAW 1268, NIAW 1342, WR 1743(<110 days) and lateheat tolerance

Early heat and HI 1544, AKAW 3997, MACSdrought tolerance 1967(D), WH 736, HI 1551, Raj

4140, RD 1271(D)

1,000 grain weight UP 2700, LBPY 05-3, GW 005-7,(> 50 g) RD 1008(D), DBPY 05-1, DBPY 05-

4(D), DBPY 04-2(D), RD 1018 (D),DBPY 04-5(D)

Grains/spike (> 60) GW 03-2, GW 03-5, LBPY 05-4,GW 03-11, LBPY 05-9

Spikes/m row LBPY 05-11, Raj 4128, WR 1392,length (>100) WR 1387, LBPY 04-4

High protein (>13%) PHR 1011, UP 2672, UP 2671,and high 1,000 grain WH 768, HUW 576, PBW 559,weight (>40 g) UP 2669, PBND 1625 (D), PQW 80,

Promising wheat and triticale genotypes identified from national nurseries

Trait(s) Genotypes

(D) = Durum; (T) = Triticale

Pyramiding rust resistance genes in wheat.Genes for resistance to leaf rust (Lr24, 28, 35,37) and stripe rust (Yr10, Yr15) have been targetedfor introduction into wheat cultivars (PBW 343,HD 2687, HD 2733, HUW 234, Lok 1, WH 147)through marker assisted selection approach.

Maize: Nine varieties of maize have beenreleased.

Cultivar Maturity Area of adaptation

FH 3288 Extra early Bihar, West Bengal, Orissa,(Vivek 27) Jharkhand, Andhra

Pradesh, Maharashtra,Karnataka, Tamil Nadu

FH 3248 Extra early Himachal Pradesh,(Vivek 25) Uttarakhand, Jammu and

Kashmir, north-easternregion

JH 3892 Early Delhi, Haryana, Punjab,(PAU 352) western Uttar Pradesh

HKI 1191 Medium Eastern Uttar Pradesh,(HM 9) Bihar, West Bengal,

Orissa, Jharkhand,Chhattisgarh

HKI 1188 Medium Andhra Pradesh,(HM 8) Maharashtra, Karnataka,

Tamil Nadu

V 33 Medium Eastern Uttar Pradesh,(Malviya West Bengal, Bihar,Makka 2) Orissa, Jharkhand,

Chhattisgarh

NECH 128 Medium Rajasthan, Gujarat,(NK 21) Madhya Pradesh

HQPM 5 Late Across the country

NECH 129 Late Delhi, Haryana, Punjab,(NK 61) western Uttar Pradesh

Cultivar Maturity Area of adaptation

Quality protein maizehybrid, HQPM 5, rich inlysine and tryptophan issuitable for cultivationacross the country

Rust resistance genes used for pyramiding in wheat varieties

Cultivar Stripe rust genes Leaf rust genes Institution involved

HUW 234 Yr10 + Yr15 Lr35 (Sr39) + Lr37 (Yr17/Sr38) DWR, Karnal

LOK 1 – Lr24 (Sr24) or Lr28 + Lr35 (Sr39) + Lr37 (Yr17/Sr38) DWR, Karnal

PBW 343 Yr10 + Yr15 Lr35 (Sr39) + Lr37 (Yr17/Sr38) PAU, Ludhiana

HD 2733 Yr10 + Yr15 Lr35 (Sr39) + Lr37 (Yr17/Sr38) PAU, Ludhiana

HD 2687 Yr15 Lr24 or Lr28 + Lr37 IARI, New Delhi

WH 147 – Lr24 or Lr28 + Lr37 IARI, New Delhi

Maize cultivars released

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Sorghum: Two varieties of sorghum have beenidentified. CSV 23 (SPV 1714) is a dual purposekharif sorghum variety proposed for cultivationin Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, UttarPradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Uttarakhandand Gujarat for deep soils. It has showed distinctsuperiority for dry fodder yield and resistance toanthracnose and leaf spot. SPV 1626 is a rabisorghum variety proposed for deep soils ofMaharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, TamilNadu and Gujarat.

Pearl Millet: Ten pearl millet hybrids havebeen identified for release.

Small millets: Fingermillet variety PRM 1,resistant to Cercospora, maturing in 110–115 days,yielding 2.3–2.5 tonnes of grains/ha and 8.0–8.5tonnes/ha green straw, has been released for

CSV 23 is a dual purposekharif sorghum

TNAU 145 is a short-durationvariety of proso millet

Pearl millet hybrids identified for release

Hybrids Area of recommendation Salient features

GHB 757

GHB 744

B 2095

NMH 68

JKBH 676

GHB 732

HHB 197

PHB 2168

MLBH 341

PB 727

Rajasthan, Gujarat, Haryana

Rajasthan, Gujarat, Haryana, Punjab, NewDelhi, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh

All India

Rajasthan, Gujarat, Punjab, New Delhi, UttarPradesh, Madhya Pradesh

Rajasthan, Gujarat, Punjab, New Delhi, UttarPradesh, Madhya Pradesh

Rajasthan, Gujarat, Punjab, New Delhi, UttarPradesh, Madhya Pradesh

Rajasthan, Gujarat, Punjab, New Delhi, UttarPradesh, Madhya Pradesh

Rajasthan, Gujarat, Punjab, New Delhi, UttarPradesh, Madhya Pradesh

Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka,Tamil Nadu

Gujarat (Summer), Maharashtra, Rajasthan,Tamil Nadu

Early maturity, medium tall, compact cylindrical earheadswith purple anthers, globular grey-brown grains

Medium maturity, medium tall, medium thick stem with basalpigmentation, compact cylindrical panicles with yellow anthers,globular grey-brown grains

Medium maturity, medium tall, compact candle panicles,globular grey grains

Late maturity, tall, pubescent nodes, compact cylindricalearheads slightly tapering towards apex, yellow anthers,globular grey grains

Medium maturity, medium tall, semi-compact cylindricalearheads with yellow anthers, green fodder at maturity

Medium maturity, medium tall, compact lanceolate earheads,purple anthers, globular grey-brown bold grains

Early maturity, medium tall, dark green leaves, cylindricalmedium Togo earheads with long bristles, highly resistantto downy mildew

Early maturity, medium tall, compact cylindrical panicles withyellow anthers, obovate grey grains

Medium maturity, medium tall, resistant to downy mildew

Late maturity, medium tall, compact cylindrical panicles withyellow anthers, obovate grey grains

Pennisetum: new cytotypes identified

Cytotype of Pennisetum pedicellatum, INGR06018 – IC 546954 is an octoploid (2n=8x=72),hitherto unreported from this species. Averagenumber of associations per cell observed were2.2VIII + 1.7VI + 0.05V + 3.15IV + 0.95III +13.65II + 1.21I. It is perennial in habit ascompared to other genotypes, which are annual.It forms tussocks with multi-tillering (up to 100tillers) in nature. The plant has good regenerationand can be harvested 3–4 times in a year.

Other new cytotype Pennisetum squamulatum(2n = 56) INGR 06017 – IC 546955 has beenidentified with 2n = 56. Chromosome number,meiotic behaviour and crossability of this with P.glaucum justifies its octoploid nature based on x=7 and its inclusion in the secondary gene poolof P. glaucum. Its plant is perennial in habit.

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Underutilized crops: High-yielding entriesidentified in advance varietal trials, are IC 261963(1.32 tonnes/ha) in buckwheat, LRB 22 (1.20tonnes/ha) in ricebean, IC 107299 (0.62 tonne/ha) in chenopodium for hills and SKNA 503 (1.38tonnes/ha) in rabi amaranth, SKNA 601 (0.813tonne/ha) in kharif amaranth, LRB 334 (1.01 tonne/ha) in ricebean, HB 608 (1.92 tonnes/ha in faba-bean, EC 116887 (0.97 tonne/ha) and EC 142665(1.19 tonnes/ha) in winged bean in plains, andSMLAB 6 (1.52 tonnes/ha) in adzukibean in hills.

Promising genotypes identified for quality are:BGA 2 (13.57%), Suvarna (12.57%) for proteincontent and Survarna (5.23%) for lysine contentin amaranth; HB 430 (25.50%), HB 180 (25.37%)and Vikarant (25.20%) for protein content andHB 131 (0.90%) and PRT 7 (0.92%) for low vicineconvicine in fababean; LRB 330 (20.90%) andLRV 351 (20.53%) for protein content, LRB 122(4.80%) and RBL 6 (4.57%) for tryptophan, PRR2 (0.95%) for methionine, and PRR 2 (0.23%)and PRR 9402 (0.22%) for free phenol in ricebean.

Groundnut: Five varieties have been released.A high-yielding variety PBS 24030 (Girnar 2)has been identified for release in the northernRajasthan, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh. A fieldgenebank of wild Arachis species consisting of75 accessions from 21 species is being maintained,and a working collection of 9,800 accessions isconserved in the medium-term storage.

cultivation in the crop-growing areas ofUttarakhand.

Kodo millet variety, RK 65-18, moderatelyresistant to head smut and shoot fly, yielding 20%higher than national check RBK 155, has beenidentified for release in Madhya Pradesh, Gujaratand Uttar Pradesh.

Proso millet variety, TNAU 145, a short-durationvariety maturing in about 70 days with bold andgolden yellow grains having yield superiority of25% over check GPUP 21, has been identifiedfor cultivation in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.

Forage crops: Two varieties have been identifiedand released.

Sunflower: DRSH 1 hybrid has been releasedand notified for rabi and summer cultivation inall sunflower-growing areas of the country. Avariety, LSF 8, has been notified for Maharashtra.

Safflower: MRSA 521, first CMS-based hybrid,resistant to wilt and tolerant to aphids, exhibiting19% and 14% increase in seed and oil yieldsover check, has been released for safflower-growingareas of the country. PBNS 40, a non-spiny variety,having 21–24% yield superiority to national checkhas also been released for all the crop-growingareas of India. In addition, spiny, sparsely spinyand non-spiny CMS lines using CMS cytoplasmfrom Carthamus oxyacantha have been developed.

Castor: RG 2819 (IC 346591, INGR 06010)having resistance to Macrophomina root rot andFusarium wilt has been registered. Phenol contentin purple leaves of castor contributes to itsleafminer resistance.

Rapeseed-mustard: Three varieties—Indianmustard (2) and gobhi sarson (1)—have beenreleased. Toria PHOT 2-2 (INGR 07033) with higholeic acid (70.1%) and low erucic acid (0.2%) andPHOT 8-2-11(INGR 07034) with low linolenic acid(3.03%) have been registered. The CMS-basedhybrid NRCHB 506 outyielded best check Krantivariety by 30.6% under late-sown conditions.

Soybean: Soybean varieties Pratap Soya 2 (forNorth Eastern and Southern Zones) and TAMS98-21 (for Vidharba Region of Maharashtra) havebeen released for cultivation.

Sesame:A high-yielding white-seeded varietyTKG 306 possessing 2.8 g 1,000 seed weight andmultiple resistance has been released for MadhyaPradesh.

Forage crop varieties identified and released

Crop Variety Adaptation Specialregion/agro- featuresecology

Guinea JHGG 04-1 Rainfed areas Resistant tograss semi-arid drought

conditions

Heteropogon IGS 9901 Rangeland Suitable forcommunity drought-grazing lands prone areas

Groundnut varieties released

Variety State(s)/area of Special featuresadaptation

TG 38B West Bengal, Rabi/summer cultivationBihar and north-eastern states

Dh 101 West Bengal, Tolerant to stem rot,(Vasundhara) Orissa, peanut bud necrosis

Jharkhand and disease,thrips andAsom Spodoptera

SG 99 Gujarat, south Tolerant to peanut budRajasthan and necrosis diseasenorthernMaharashtra

GG 8 Northern Moderately tolerant toMaharashtra and bud necrosis, collar rotMadhya Pradesh

GG 16 Tamil Nadu, Tolerant to bud necrosis,Andhra Pradesh, root rot, thrips,Kerala and Spodoptera and leafsouthern minerMaharashtra

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tolerance to major diseases. It contains 30–32.5%gum and viscosity profile of 2200–2500 Cp.

CRIDA 1-18R a promising variety of horse-gram, yielded 842.0 kg/ha against 696.2 kg/ha ofthe best check, PHG 9. It is also early in maturity(85–90 days).

Cotton: An intra-hirsutum hybrid CSHH 243has been identified for cultivation in irrigated areasin North Zone. It has recorded a mean seed-cottonyield of 2.2 tonnes/ha; ginning outturn of 33.3%;2.5% mean fibre length of 26.7 mm; micronairevalue of 4.6; uniformity ratio value of 50.7%;and fibre strength of 24.0 g/tex; and has shownresistance to cotton leaf-curl virus.

Temperature-sensitive genetic male-sterile linesfor economical hybrid seed production in diploidcotton have been identified from a cross between(Bengalense × Cernuum) × G. anomalum.

Indigenously synthesized genes Cry 1 F andCry 1 Aa3 have been successfully transferred indiploid cultivars PA 402, PA 255, PA 183, AKA5, AKLA 7, RG 8 and hirsutum genotype LRA5166 (Anjali).

Sugarcane: Sugarcane varieties, CoH 119, CoJ20193, CoS 96268, Co 98014 and CoS 96275, forwest and centralUttar Pradesh,Punjab, Haryana,Rajasthan andUttara-khand andCo 99004 forplains of TamilNadu, Karnataka,Kerala, Gujarat,Madhya Pradeshand Maharashtrahave beenreleased andnotified forc o m m e r c i a lcultivation.

Red-rot resis-tant sugarcanegenetic stocksIkshuISH 1 (PIO 91-190 × SIP 93-190) andIkshuISH 23 (PIO 91-829 × SIP 315) and high-sugar breeding germplasm LG 95053 have beenregistered.

Jute: Mesta variety Madhuri has been releasedand notified for roselle-growing tracts of India.Its yield potential has been higher than HS 4288,HS 7910 and AMV 4, and also showed increasedtolerance to diseases and insect pests.

Jute varieties, JRO 2003 H, JRO 240 and AAUOJ 1, have been identified for release.

Tobacco: Spodoptera litura caterpillar-resistantchewing tobacco variety, Meenakshi (CR), havinga yield potential of around 3,500 kg/ha, has been

Niger:IGPN 2004-1, a high-yielding variety ofniger, has been identified for release in Maharashtraand Karnataka for kharif and early rabi.

Linseed: Kartika (RLC 76) and RLU 6 varietieshave been released for cultivation. In addition,Deepika, LMS 9-2, NL165, RLC 92 and KL 215have been identified as promising.

Chickpea: GNG 1581 variety has beenidentified for cultivation in Rajasthan, Punjab,Haryana, western Uttar Pradesh and plains ofJammu. It is semispreading with medium seeds(16.0 g/100 seeds), maturing in 151 days. It istolerant to wilt, Ascochyta blight and stunt. Large-seeded, wilt-resistant kabuli chickpea genotypeIPCK 2002-29 has shown promise in Central Indiaand outyielded best check JGK 1 by 22%.

Pigeonpea: For Gujarat, first CMS-based hybridGTH 1 has been notified for cultivation. TT 401short-duration variety has been identified forMadhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Gujarat.

Mungbean: H 2-15 (Sattya) variety has beenidentified for kharif cultivation in Rajasthan,Punjab, Haryana, western Uttar Pradesh and plainsof Jammu. It outyielded best check, ML 818, by15%. It has showed moderate resistance to yellowmosaic virus disease. UPM 02-17, developed frominterspecific hybridization between mungbean andurdbean, has been identified for cultivation in NorthEastern Hills Zone. It gave 17% higher yield thanbest check ML 5.

Fieldpea: Varieties, IPF 04-26, VL 45 and PantPea 42, have been identified for cultivation indifferent states.

Arid Legumes: Guar variety HG 884 identifiedas promising. It outyielded (25.34%) best checkHG 365. It matures in 90–95 days and has field

Co 99004 variety of sugarcane releasedfor commercial cultivation

Rapeseed-mustard varieties identified for release

Variety Average State(s)/ Specialoil content area of features

(%) adaptation

Pusa Mustard 36.5 Haryana, Low erucicPunjab, acid, suitableNew Delhi for rainfedand parts areasof Rajasthan

CS 234-2 36.5 Haryana, Suitable forPunjab and late-sownparts of areas, saltRajasthan tolerant,

1,000 seedweight morethan 6 g

NUDB 26-11 38.7 Himachal Double lowPradesh and erucic acid,Jammu and suitable forKashmir irrigated

areas

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developed. Hybridization work among popularvarieties was undertaken to develop downy mildew-resistant varieties of table grapes. Forty-fouraccessions showing varying degree of resistance/tolerance were characterized using molecularmarkers.

Sapota: High-yielding sapota clone DHS 1 (2/1) identified earlier confirmed its superiority.

Walnut: A total of 10 promising selections inwalnut comprising 5 genotypes, each with a nutweight of 18.63–27.16 g and kernel weight of10.69–12.76 g, were found promising. Vegetativelypropagated walnut selections started bearing duringthe third year of plantation against 12–15 yearsby conventional seedlings.

Arid zone fruits: Ber hybrid Thar Sevika wasfound promising with 10–15 days early maturity,juicy fruits, high TSS (22%), high ascorbic acid(90 mg/100 g), and contents of total sugar (5.0mg/100 g) and protein (16 mg/g). Thar Bhubhraj,a selection has ability to withstand extremes oftemperature variation. A new cultivar of aonlahas been released which has a proliferic-bearinghabit and matures earlier than NA 7. Pomegranate,Ganesh and Anardana type Line H performed betterunder rainfed condition of Gujarat. Narendra BerSelection 1 and Narendra Ber Selection 2 havebeen recommended for commercial cultivation inUttar Pradesh.

Underutilized fruits: Promising genotypes,CISH-J 37 of jamun (Syzygium cuminii), CISH-K10 of khirnee (Manilkara hexandra) and CISH-Kr11 of karonda (Carissa carandas) were identified.The CISH-J 37 jamun recorded average fruit weight24.05 g, length 3.90 cm and diameter 3.03 cm,pulp 92.26%, TSS 16.4 °Brix, ascorbic acid 49.88mg/100 g and antioxidant 1,467.9 µg/100 ml AEACunit. CISH-K 10 khirnee recorded average fruitweight 4.44 g, length 2.83 cm, pulp 89.18%, TSS28.40 °Brix, ascorbic acid 16.8 mg 100/g andantioxidant 189.89 µg/ml AEAC unit and karondaCISH-Kr 11 recorded average fruit weight 6.0 g,

released for cultivation in inland chewing tobaccotract, i.e. southern, central and western zones ofTamil Nadu in irrigated areas.

Mango: Mango hybridH 39 (Amrapali × Vanaraj)was found promising withattractive red-blushedfruits, high TSS (24°Brix), high carotenoids(7.8 mg/100 g), firm pulp(0.78 kg), regular-bearinghabit, tolerance toanthracnose and dwarf treestature.

Guava: Guava CISH-G 1 was found as apromising selection with deep red fruits, attractiveshape, high TSS (15° Brix) and long shelf-life.Guava Sardar gave significantly higher yieldfollowed by Pant Prabhat, while Lucknow 49 gavethe highest fruit yield followed by Allahabad Safedaand Lucknow 46-2. Allahabad Safeda gave highyield, maximum average fruit weight (232.50 g),high TSS (9.92 ° Brix), ascorbic acid content(285.00 mg/100 g pulp) and the lowest acidity(0.31%). Selections, MPUA&T S 1 and MPUA&TS 2, showed promise for high yield potential andquality fruits.

Papaya: An advanced generation papaya hybridwas developed which has red pulp with high TSScontent and a good shelf-life. Banana hybrid NPH02-01 (H 201 × Anaikomban) registered betterbunch traits and was found resistant to Fusariumwilt race-1. Banana hybrids, H 212 and H 96/1,were found tolerant to nematode.

Grape: Two clonal selections were collectedand added to National Grape GermplasmRepository. Field screening of germplasm wasdone for resistance/tolerance to diseases and insect-pests. Several promising hybrids were evaluatedfor their suitability for table and wine purposes.A computer-based molecular database has been

Mango hybrid H 39

CISH-K 10 is a promising genotype of khirnee

Caterpillar-resistant chewing tobacco variety Meenakshi (CR)

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length 2.30 cm, pulp4.60 g, seed 1.40 g,TSS 6.10 °Brix,ascorbic acid 16.8 g100/g and antioxidant189.89 µg/100 mlAEAC unit.

Vegetable crops:New hybrids andvarieties in differentvegetable crops wereidentified and recommended for cultivation indifferent states. These include brinjal PB 66 forMadhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh,Punjab, Bihar and Jharkhand; hybrid brinjal Navinafor Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Bihar and Jharkhand;hybrid brinjal HABH 17 for Uttar Pradesh, Punjab,Bihar and Jharkhand; chilli LCA 353 forChhattisgarh, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka,Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Biharand Jharkhand; and BC 25 for Rajasthan, Gujarat,Haryana, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra,Orissa, Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh; spongegourd PSG 40 for Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra,Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh andUttarakhand; ash gourd Pusa Ujwal for Karnataka,Tamil Nadu and Kerala; early-group pea VP 101for Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Bihar, Jharkhand, Jammuand Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand;mid-group pea PC 531 for Rajasthan, Gujarat,Haryana, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra,Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh andUttarakhand; cowpea IIVR- CP 4 for Uttar Pradesh,Punjab, Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, Chhattisgarh,Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra;onion B 780-5-2-2 for Rajasthan, Gujarat, Haryanaand Delhi; okra JNDOL 03-1 for Madhya Pradesh,Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala;hybrid okra SOH 1016 for Uttar Pradesh, Punjab,Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh andMaharashtra, and NBH 180 for Madhya Pradeshand Maharashtra; and hybrid cabbage GreenEmperor for Jammu and Kashmir, HimachalPradesh and Uttarakhand.

Varieties released: Kashi Unnati, a new cowpeavariety, is photo-insensitive, highly tolerant togolden mosaic virus and Pseudocercospora cruentadiseases. Its plants are dwarf/bush type with anaverage length of 40–45 cm. This is recommendedfor cultivation in spring-summer and rainy seasonsin different parts of the country. It flowers 30–35days after sowing and exhibits commercial podmaturity 45–50 days after sowing. It bears 40–45pods/plant with an average yield of 125–150 q/ha. It is adopted for cultivation in traditional andnon-traditional, replacing almost all varieties. Dueto short-duration, this is highly suitable for rice-wheat cropping system.

Kashi Kanchan is another photo-insensitivecowpea variety which is highly tolerant to goldenmosaic virus and Pseudocercospora cruentadiseases. It is suitable for sowing in both spring-summer and rainy seasons. It flowers 40–45 daysafter sowing and becomes ready for picking 50–55 days after sowing. It bears 40–45 pods/plant.The pods are dark green, tender, pulpy with lessfibre and free from parchment layer. This givesan average yield of 150–200 q/ha.

Bhima Raj is a new onion variety whichproduces dark red and oval-shaped bulbs withsingle centre and thin neck. The TSS ranges from10.0 to 11.0%. This variety is suitable for kharifand late kharif seasons in Maharashtra, Karnatakaand Gujarat. This is also suitable for rabi seasonin Rajasthan, Gujarat, Haryana and Delhi. Bhima

CISH-J 37, a genotype of jamun,has 92.26% pulp

Kashi Unnati, cowpea variety, replacing almost all varieties, istolerant to golden mosaic virus

Onion Bhima Raj, a variety of onion with thin neck and oval bulbs

Raj matures 120–125 days after transplanting andproduces no bolters. Its average yield is 25–30tonnes/ha.

Bhima Super is suitable for kharif and late-kharif cultivation in Maharashtra, Karnataka andGujarat. With round bulbs tapering towards neck,

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its TSS varies from 10 to 11%. The variety producesquality bulbs with maximum number of singlecentred bulbs and average yield of 26–28 tonnes/ha in kharif and 40–45 tonnes/ha in late-kharifseason. Bulbs attain maturity 110–115 days aftertransplanting.

Development ofpromising lines:Tomato: Two newhybrids, H 71(38.6tonnes/ha) and H 70(36 tonnes/ha), werefound promising.Hybrids TLBRH 5,TLBRH 6, TLBRH9 and PH 5, werefound suitable forp o l y h o u s ecultivation. Twoindividual plantselections fromcrosses of ArkaMeghali × RF4AF2-15-14 and Arka Vikas × RF4A showed promisefor yield (up to 2 kg/plant) and tolerance tomoisture stress. Two F1 hybrids of Arka Meghali× IIHR 2249 and Arka Abha × IIHR 2223 werefound promising for yield (29 tonnes/ha) and heattolerance.

Okra. Hybrid,OH l gave highestfruit yield (16.98tonnes/ha) followedby OH 5 (15.21tonnes/ha) insummer, whilehighest fruit yield inkharif was recordedin hybrid OH 4(18.84 tonnes/ha),followed by OH 5(18.27 tonnes/ha) and OH l (17.79 tonnes/ha).Okra Arka Anamika was found suitable forpolyhouse cultivation.

French bean. Arka Suvidha gave maximum podyield of 19.5 tonnes/ha. Five test accessions, IIHR125, Arka Bold, IC 525232, IC 525233 and IC525236, were found resistant to rust under fieldconditions. Breeding line of cross IC 525224 ×IC525239 was resistant to stem fly (0.67 maggot/plant) and possessed good pod quality. Thirty-three plants were selected with tolerance to hightemperature, good pod quality and high yieldattributes from the crosses between IC 525224(heat tolerant) and Arka Komal or Arka Anoop.Arka Komal and ‘Hebbal Avare 3’ were foundsuitable for polyhouse cultivation.

Watermelon. Watermelon IIHR 70 was found

to be a promising genotype with a high yieldpotential. Eight identified accessions were foundfree from watermelon bud necrosis virus (WBNV).Evaluation of 45 progenies of a T3 transgenicwatermelon confirmed the presence of a singlecopy of gene showing complete resistance toWBNV.

Muskmelon. IIHR 138, muskmelon hybridsGyno~998 × Punjab Sunehari (33.77 tonnes/ha),Arka Jeet × IIHR 616 and MS 5 × Punjab Suneharirecorded maximum fruit yield (32.53 and 31.5tonnes/ha).

Capsicum. Seven promising individual plantselections were identified for heat tolerance fromeight F4 populations.

Cauliflower. IIHR 316-1 (430 g), IIHR 73-56(417 g) and IIHR 371 (423 g) recorded maximumcurd weight.

Carrot. Inbred lines carrot Sl 14 (26.961 tonnes/ha), Sl 264 (26.40 tonnes/ha) and Sl 260 (26.25tonnes/ha) recorded high yield.

Garden pea. Yield was more in lines IIHR 697and IIHR 756. Thirty plant selections were madefrom F3 progenies of the crosses between high-yielding varieties/lines (IIHR 7-6, IIHR 7-2, IIHR18, IIHR 19 and CHPMR 1) and high temperaturetolerant lines KTP 4, IIHR 544 (Magadi local)and Oregon Sugar Pod.

Dolichos bean. The lines, IIHR 05-16 and IIHR05-29, were found high-yielding. The IIHR 3-3(19.1 tonnes/ha), IIHR 2-1(19.85 tonnes/ha) andIIHR 1-1 (16.13 tonnes/ha) were found promisingadvanced breeding lines with high pod yield.

Amaranth. JSR 04-86, IC 469607 and IC 469621were found promising lines with respect to leafweight (55–65 g) with high yield of 104-156 g/plant.

Arid vegetables: Of the cultivars of aridvegetables released, Thar Manak is a variety ofmateera developed through selection from a crossof Mateera AHW 19 × Sugar Baby. Its fruits containvery big, bold and blackish seeds, which are freefrom cracking under extreme arid conditions. TharSamridhi bottle gourd was derived from a crossof Banswara Local l × Gujarat Local 1. It couldbe harvested earlier than other varieties.

Yellow onion for export: Onion Mercedes,Couger, Linda Vista varieties/hybrids are suitablefor growing from September to February. Thetrials conducted on broad bed furrow (BBF) withdrip irrigation indicated the yield potential up to50 tonnes/ha as against 13 tonnes/ha (nationalaverage). This successful technology is transferredto farmers’ fields in Pune and Nashik districts.The trial consignments of yellow onion organizedfor export to Germany through private tradersindicated a promising chance for enhancing exportto European Union. Finalization of forward linkages

Tomato Hybrid 70 ready for freshmarketing

Okra hybrid OH 5

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and transhipment with established backwardlinkages can help in developing export market to2–3 lakh tonnes additionally. This technology willhelp in diversification of traditional onion, whichnormally creates problem of glut during February-March.

Resistance sources:Of the 307 field-resistantgenotypes of pepper leaf curl virus (PepLCV)(2004–05), selfed progenies of eight symptomlessand highly resistant lines were challenged byviruliferous white fly in a glasshouse. Threegenotypes, viz. GKC 29, BS 35 and EC 497636,showed no symptom. Using scion and rootstockof susceptible genotype (Pusa Jwala), these threeputative symptomless genotypes were furtherchallenged by alternate grafting. The resistantreactions of GKC 29, BS 35, EC 497636 wereconfirmed. The DNA of these lines were furthersubjected to PCR amplification with degenerateprimers designed to detect begamovirus likePepLCV. None of the genotypes showed anyamplification, suggesting that the resistant reactionin three identified resistant sources was becauseof the absence/non-replication of viral genomeand these lines are not the symptomless carrier.

ToLCV resistance in tomato: The F4 populationderived from L. hirsutum and L. chilense carryingTy1 and Ty2 genes were grown and highly resistantfamilies with desirable agronomic traits have beenselected in F5 generation. These Ty1 and Ty2 genescomplement each other and offer enhancedresistance for management of tomato leaf curlvirus.

Potato: A high-yielding, early-maturing hybrid,JX 123, was registered as a unique germplasm.The hybrid produces yellow peel, oval tuber withshallow eyes having light yellow flesh. It has avery good general combining ability for yield andvery early (60 days) and early (75 days) harvesting.Hybrid MP/97-644 was released as first processingpotato variety Kufri Himsona for cultivation inhills of Himachal Pradesh. It has not only superiorprocessing qualities and higher dry-matter content

than a popular variety Kufri Jyoti, but alsoresistance to late blight. Its cultivation will fulfilthe long-felt need of processing units, particularlyin and around Delhi, Haryana and Punjab, whereKufri Chipsona 1, Kufri Chipsona 2, KufriChipsona 3, and Kufri Himsona will provide round-the-year availability of good-quality processingraw material.

In India, there is no variety exclusively suitedfor preparation of French fry. A hybrid, MP/98-71, producing oval-long tubers, more than 20%evenly distributed dry matter and good yield innorth-western plains has been developed. Thehybrid is suitable for preparation of French frieswhich has been verified by the industry.

Hybrid SM/93-237 has been identified as high-yielding as compared to Kufri Jyoti and KufriGiriraj. It has better resistance to late blight andhigher dry-matter content than Kufri Jyoti andKufri Giriraj. It is also better under controlledand ambient temperature conditions. Besides, itsa t t r a c t i v emedium-sized,o v a l - o b l o n g ,s y n c h r o n o u stubers are freefrom cracking.

Hybrid J/93-86 has beenidentified as ah igh-y ie ld ingand early-maturing whitetuber hybrid withm o d e r a t eresistance to late blight. It has performed wellfor yield in entire north Indian plains under bothreplicated and on-farm trials. Its keeping qualityis better than Kufri Ashoka and Kufri Pukhraj. Itis ideal for Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan, UttarPradesh, Gujarat, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and WestBengal. This is likely to be a good alternative forearly-maturing Kufri Ashoka, Kufri Chandramukhiand Kufri Pukhraj.

Plantation crops: VTL 12, a high-yieldingarecanut (Saigon), was identified with an averageyield of 3.88 kg challi/palm/year. Arecanut hybridVTLAH 1 was developed with an average challiyield of 2.54 kg/palm/year.

Ten superior oleifera palms No. Eo 23 (66.76),Eo 22 (66.53), Eo 05 (66.44%), Eo 11 (65.28%),Eo 02 (63.84%), Eo 04 (63.84%), Eo 19 (63.54%),Eo 20 (63.54%), Eo 18 (63.13%) and Eo 17(62.17%) were found promising parents forinterspecific hybridization.

Four hybrids, Vittal Cocoa Hybrid 1 (VTLCH 1),ICS 6 × SCA 6 (VTLCH 2), II 67 × NC 29/66(VTLCH 3), I 56 × II 67 (VTLCH 4) and a clone

Potato hybrid J/93-86 is ideal for growingin north India

Onion Mercedes is ideally grown during September–February

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NC 45/53 (VTLCC 1) with an average yieldpotential of 1.245, 1.145, 1.478, 1.481 and 1.238 kgdry beans/plant/year respectively, were developed.These hybrids/clone meet the international standardof bean size of more than 1 g, containinternationally acceptable levels of fat content(>50%) and low shelling (10–12%).

Spices: Four black pepper hybrids, viz. IISRThevam, IISR Sakthi, IISR Girimunda, and IISRMalabar, and two high-yielding value-added (highcurcumin) turmeric varieties, viz. IISR AlleppeySupreme and IISR Kedaram, with resistance toleaf blotch disease were released. Sweet fennelaccession AF 254 was found to contain moresweetness and high essential oil content. It is beingutilized in crop improvement programme throughhybridization. The large-seeded fenugreekaccessions, AM 108, AM 92 and AM 35, havebeen identified for high yield.

A high-yielding anise NRCSS A-Ani 1, with ayield potential of 1.15 tonnes/ha, bearing attractiveseeds and high volatile oil content (3.5%) is suitablefor cultivation in semi-arid region under irrigatedconditions. Celery line,NRCSS A-Cel 1, wasdeveloped with anaverage seed yield of8 q/ha under semi-aridcondition and highessential oil content of2.4%.

Flowers: Twosuperior breeding linesof rose, IIHR P 13 andIIHR P 15, wereidentified. Eight lineswere identified resistantto thrips underpolyhouse condition. Incarnation, a hybrid IIHRP 1, was developedshowing resistance to Fusarium wilt.

Medicinal and aromatic plants: A genotypeHAV 5-11 of aloe (Aloe barbadensis) for higherleaf yield (2,675 g), and HAV 04-4 for highestmucilage (70%) against the local check HAV 1(60%) were identified. Selection 4B, 13 carrotand 15 baruch of ashwagandha (Withaniasomnifera) have been identified for 21.24, 30.89and 21.62% increased dry root yield, respectively,over the existing variety WS 100. The highestseed yield (8.96 g/plant) of isabgol was recordedin genotype RI 49 followed by RI 149 (8.82 g),RI 87 (7.98 g), RI 99 (7.83 g), RI 9808 HI 8(7.12 g) and HI 6 (6.88 g) as against the bestcheck HI 5 (5.86 g).

Tuber crops:Varieties identified andrecommended in different tuber crops are: SreeJaya, Sree Vijaya and Sree Prakash of cassava;

IGSP 4, IGSP 17, RNSP 3, Indira Sakerkand,Bidhan Jagannath and 90/704 of sweet potato;PKS 1, RNCA 1, BK Col 1, Jhankri, BidhanChaitanya, Indira Arvi 1, Ahinakatchu and KadmaArvi of taro; NDB 21 and NDB 3 of banda; NDA9 of elephant-foot yam and Orrisa Elite of yam.

BIOTECHNOLOGY

A novel Arabidopsisthaliana promoteridentified is capable ofdriving high-levelconstitutive expression;and considered to bebetter than the widelyused promoter CaMV35S. Transgenicmustard (cv. Varuna)that expresses ß-farnesene synthase with repellencyto mustard aphids has been developed.

Transgenics in crops: ICAR Network Projecton Transgenics in Crops, a new initiative since2005–06, has two main components-functionalgenomics and transgenics development.

Functional genomics. The focus of thiscomponent is on gene discovery for importantagronomic traits in rice, wheat, maize, brassica,chickpea, tomato and banana. Genome databasesfor these have been created to retrieve informationon ESTs (expressed genes), DNA markers, clonedgenes, and other important information from asingle web portal, that provides easy links todifferent statistical and genome analysis software.

Specific genes and pathways related to drought-stress response in maize have been identified. Allelemining has been done for teosinte branched1 (tb1)gene, responsible for prolificacy trait in maize,and also initiated for Yellow1 (Y1), a key gene ofmaize, regulating carotenoid biosynthesis.

Transgenics development. Transgenic

Carnation Hybrid IIHR P1 isresistant to Fusarium

A novel constitutive promoteridentified and cloned fromArabidopsis thaliana

Pigeonpea genomics

A comprehensive genomics programme inpigeonpea has been initiated under the Indo-USAgricultural Knowledge Initiative (AKI) in networkmode involving ICAR, Indian and US Universitiesand ICRISAT. More than 5,000 EST DNAsequences have been submitted in publicdatabases. Several mapping populations arebeing developed. UC Davis has developed onebacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) library ofpigeonpea to be used as a common resource forgenome sequencing. The mapping populationsand a mutant population being created inpigeonpea variety Asha will be used for discoveryof genes involved in diseases resistance, yieldand quality.

Pigeonpea genomics

A comprehensive genomics programme inpigeonpea has been initiated under the Indo-USAgricultural Knowledge Initiative (AKI) in networkmode involving ICAR, Indian and US Universitiesand ICRISAT. More than 5,000 EST DNAsequences have been submitted in publicdatabases. Several mapping populations arebeing developed. UC Davis has developed onebacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) library ofpigeonpea to be used as a common resource forgenome sequencing. The mapping populationsand a mutant population being created inpigeonpea variety Asha will be used for discoveryof genes involved in diseases resistance, yieldand quality.

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characterization of newly identified species (Musakuppiana) from north-eastern India revealed thatthis species appeared to be a transitional speciesbetween the two sections, viz. Ensete and Musa.It will be an interesting species to study the originand evolution of bananas. Embryogenic cellsuspension was successfully developed in Nendran,Rasthali and Ney Poovan bananas for developingtransgenic varieties against Sigatoka leaf spot andwilt diseases. Complete genome of banana streak

development is going on in 14 crops for resistanceto insect/pests, viral, fungal and bacterial diseases,and that enahnces tolerance to drought and salinity.These are at different stages of testing. Mustardtransgenic expressing transcription factor encodinggenes ZF1 and DREB1 has responded favourably

to water stress in Phytotron conditions comparedto wild types.

Transgenics of chickpea and pigeonpea.Chickpea (DCP 92-3 and C 235) and pigeonpea(Bahar and MAL 13) have been transformed withCry1Ac gene. Transformation frequency was lessin chickpea (5–9%) as compared to pigeonpea(21%). Well-established plantlets of thesetransgenics are maintained under controlledconditions.

Fruit crops: In banana, morpho-molecular

Allele mining for prolificacy gene tb1 in Sikkim primitive maizeline IML 592

Comparative response of transgenic mustard wild type to waterstress lines (left, wild type; centre and right, transgenic lines)

Improved Pusa Basmati 1 throughMolecular Marker-Assisted Selection

An improved version of Pusa Basmati 1,resistant to bacterial blight, has been developedfor the first time through MAS, and released forcommercial cultivation. It combines with genesxa13 and Xa21 for bacterial blight (BB) resistancewith basmati quality traits of Pusa Basmati 1,and 23.5% higher yield of well-known TaraoriBasmati.

InsCot for cotton cultivars information

An Information System on Cotton Cultivars(InsCot) has been developed to provideinformation on all cultivars released by differentagencies so far. This user-friendly CD has beendeveloped using Visual Basic, NET as front-endand Microsoft Access as back-end for datastorage. The information includes name of thecultivar, agency that developed, year of release,notification number, area adopted, species,pedigree/parentage, agro-ecology, yield,duration of crop, ginning outturn, staple length,micronaire value, bundle strength, counts,resistance and susceptibility to biotic/abioticstresses, and special features.

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virus (Accession No. DQ 859899) was cloned,sequenced and deposited in NCBI genbank. Theviral genome was 6950 bp long with three ORF’sand more similar to BSV-OL and GD sequences.Intergenic BSV sequence (900 bp) was clonedfor assessing the promoter activity.

Three accessions of banana resistant to Fusariumwere identified. The antimicrobial peptide genewas cloned and successful transformants with AMPgene were generated in Ney Poovan and Rasthali.In papaya, seeds were collected from electroporatedplants of Solo papaya with a gene for coat proteinof papaya ring spot virus (PRSV). Among them,

25 PCR positive seedlingswere found resistant toPRSV.Vegetable crops:Genetransfer has been achievedin tomato H 86 and brinjalBaigan 9 by the Agro-b a c t e r i u m - m e d i a t e dtransformation using Cry1Ac gene. More than 125putative transgenic plantshave been regenerated.PCR analysis confirmedthe presence of nptII andCry1Ac gene, andSouthern hybridization

confirmed the single copy gene integration. Theplants were also tested for strip test and ELISAtest, which confirmed the gene expression. Thetransgenic plants are being used for insect bioassayand segregation analysis.

For drought tolerance, tomato plants weretransformed with DREB1A gene, a transcription factorunder the control of a desiccation inducible promoterRd29A. Of the 21 lines of tomato, T1 plants fromthree lines have shown good tolerance to moisturestress with normal flowering, fruit setting and fruitbearing. Forty tomato selections were made withcombined resistance against tomato leaf curl virus(TLCV), bacterial wilt and early blight, and oneselection with combined resistance to TLCV, bacterialwilt and root-knot nematode.

The work on development of transgenic tomatofor combined resistance to TLCV and PBNV in 4different genotypes resulted in 65 T2 transgenicplants, of which 37 plants had the gene for TLCV,10 had the gene for PBNV and 11 plants had resistancegenes for both the diseases. Development oftransgenic tomato Arka Vikas for resistance toAlternaria solani resulted in generation of 21 plantswith Trichoderma harzianum and 5 withMetarrhizium anisopliae chitinase gene constructs.Among them, one plant each with T. harzianum andM. anisopliae showed resistance to Alternaria solaniwhich was associated with the presence of transgene.

Molecular characterization of one isolate of tomatowas carried out.

Development of T-rep gene construct. Viralsamples from infected field were used for cloningof replicase gene of TLCV. An amplicon of ~450bp was amplified and cloned. In this way, 479nucleotides long DNA stretch was cloned in atPst I site of a binary vector pCAMBIA2301 having35S promoter and terminator. The vector wastransformed to E. coli strain DH5α . The binaryvector pCAMBIA 2301 carrying conserved repgene was finally mobilized in Agrobacteriumtumefaciens strain LBA4404.

Potato:Genetic transformation studies with anew Ntinhh gene construct resulted in developmentof nearly 200 lines of Kufri Jyoti and 50 lines ofKufri Chipsona 1. Another 170 putative transgeniclines of Kufri Chipsona 1 encoding refined PTGSconstruct and invertase genes were also developed.Some of these lines, if characterized to be coldchipper, are likely to giveboost to potato-processing units bymaking available largequantity of cold storedraw material.

Medicinal andaromatic plants: Shootregeneration of safedmusli (Chlorophytumborivianum) wasachieved from immatureinflorescence explants ofsafed musli on half-strength Murashige andSkoog (MS) mediumsupplemented with BA (1.5–3.00 mg/litre), Ads(50–100 mg/litre), NAA (0.01–0.1 mg/litre) and3% (w/v) sucrose under a 16-hour photoperiod.Micropropagated plantlets were hardened ingreenhouse success-fully.

SEED

Breeder seed production: Over 5,291 tonnes ofbreeder seed of crop varieties have been produced,including oilseeds (2,177 tonnes), cereals (2,049tonnes), pulses (938 tonnes), forage crops (104tonnes) and fibre crops (23 tonnes).

Quality seed production: Over 61,000 tonnesquality seed, including breeder seed of oilseed,cereal, pulse, forage and fibre crops has beenproduced under the Project, ‘Seed production inagricultural crops and fisheries’, which is doublethe quantity produced in the preceding year.

More than 8,000 tonnes seed was producedunder the participatory seed programme at thefarmers’ fields, at the University of Agricultural

A scion grafted susceptiblePusa Jwala variety of brinjal

In-vitro rooting in safedmusli

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Sciences, Dharwad; Jawaharlal Nehru KrishiVishwa Vidyalaya, Jabalpurl; Narendra DevaUniversity of Agriculture and Technology,Faizabad, and Maharana Pratap University ofAgriculture and Technology, Udaipur.

Seed production technology: More than 2,500tonnes of breeder seed has been produced forstate release varieties directly by the centres asper the indent of the respective states. Panicummaximum seed harvested 25 days after panicleemergence showed better seed quality.

Seed storage: Storage insects infesting wheat,pearl millet and paddy can be effectively controlledfor three months using Emamectin benzoate at 2parts per million (ppm), Lufenuron at 5 ppm orDeltamethrin at 1.0 ppm. Packaging at most ofthe farmers’ houses can be suitably done usingpolylined jute canvas bags (PLJC) as well as highdensity polyethylene interwoven bags (HDPE).

Seed health:Seed treatment with neem oil at5.0 ml/kg effectively controlled pulse beetleinfesting mungbean, pigeonpea, chickpea andcowpea for 3–6 months without impairing seedgermination.

A total of 224.92 lakh saplings and 0.5 lakhtonnes seeds of various horticultural and vegetable

crops; and 2,800 packets of mushroom spawn havebeen produced.

HONEYBEES AND POLLINATORS

Seed yield increased by 21% over control inmustard at Bhubaneshwar and by 15% in sunflowerat Coimbatore through honeybee-mediatedpollination.

Research work at the Kerala AgriculturalUniversity on stingless bees Trigona irridipennisfor honey and pollination of crops resulted indevelopment of earthen pots, bamboo splits andPVC for artificial nest material. Similar researchat Assam Agricultural University, Jorhat, usingwooden and whole bamboo nesting systems is inprogress to home various stingless bee species.And successful development of colonies is inprogress.

Bumble-bees are good pollinators but areavailable only in temperate conditions as inHimachal Pradesh. The Solan Centre of AICIRPon Honey Bees and pollinators in Himachal Pradeshis conducting experiments on artificial rearing,pollinators of important crops of that region.

❑

Poverty alleviation in tribal areas throughquality seeds

Rural appraisal showed that 67% of tribalfarmers used their own farm-saved seeds and40% did not follow seed treatment practices.Distribution of quality seeds of improved varietiesto tribal farmers in Betul, Chicholi and GhodaDongri blocks of Madhya Pradesh enhanced seedyield over local varieties up to 60% in soybean,urdbean, rice, transplanted rice and maize.

PPV and FR Act and DUS testing through

ICAR-SAU system

National Test Guidelines for 35 crops for theexamination of their Distinctiveness, Uniformityand Stability (DUS) parameters as per theprevailing international standards have beendeveloped. These can be applied for theimplementation of the Protection of PlantVarieties and Farmers’ Rights Act, 2001. Also,Reference Varieties for specific traits have beenidentified.